Notifiable Events

Some incidents at your centre must be reported to one or more regulatory bodies — this is a legal obligation, not optional. The Incident & Notification Hub helps you track when notifications are required, record that they’ve been made, and keep the supporting documentation in one place.

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When does an incident need to be notified?

Under the April 2026 Licensing Criteria (HS128), the Ministry of Education must be notified in the following situations: At the same time as any specified agency:

• A serious injury, illness, or incident involving a child while at the service

As soon as possible:

• Your child protection policy requires a notification to any agency (such as Oranga Tamariki or NZ Police) relating to a child while attending the service
• A child leaves the premises without the knowledge of an adult, regardless of how briefly
• A child is locked inside the premises after operating hours
• A child is taken from the service by someone not authorised in writing to do so
• A child is left behind or goes missing during an excursion

The platform displays this guidance at the Assess stage of every incident, so it’s available at the moment you need it.

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Which bodies might need to be notified?

Depending on the nature of the incident, you may need to notify one or more of the following bodies (referred to in the criteria as “specified agencies”):

• Ministry of Education — required for all notifiable events listed above
• NZ Police — for incidents involving criminal matters, child safety concerns
• Oranga Tamariki — for child protection concerns
• WorkSafe New Zealand — for serious workplace injuries or hazards
• Ministry of Health — for public health incidents
• Teaching Council of Aotearoa NZ — for conduct matters involving registered teachers

In many cases more than one body will need to be notified. The platform lets you record a separate notification for each body against the same incident.

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How to record a regulatory notification

Once an incident is marked as notifiable at the Assess stage, a Regulatory Notifications section appears on the incident record. For each notification, you record:

• Body — which agency was notified
• Method — phone, email, online form, etc.
• Date and time notified
• Due by — the deadline for notification (the platform flags overdue notifications in red)
• Notified by — which staff member made the contact
• Reference number — any reference provided by the agency
• Response / outcome — what the agency said or decided
• Attachments — copies of any notification letters, emails, or supporting documents

You can add as many notification records as needed to a single incident.

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Documentation requirements

The April 2026 criteria require you to keep:

• A copy of the notification sent to any specified agency
• A summary of any notification or report of concern sent to Oranga Tamariki or NZ Police
• Where applicable, a copy of the service’s investigation into the incident, including recorded outcomes and supporting documentation

Attach these directly to the notification record using the attachments section. They’ll be stored against the incident and available for ERO review.

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Overdue notifications

Each notification record has a Due by date. If a notification hasn’t been marked as sent by that date, it will show as overdue on both the incident and your dashboard. The dashboard highlights outstanding and overdue notifications so they stay visible until resolved.